New Delhi: The Election Commission of India has chalked out a foolproof plan for counting of votes for five state elections as the blame game has already started between the political parties after the reports of movement of EVMs and recovery of ballot papers surfaced.
As per the schedule of elections, the counting of votes for 690 Assembly seats of five states--Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur--is taking place on Thursday. The counting for one Assembly seat Majuli in Assam will also take place on Thursday.
Given the importance of these poll results, as the Vidhan Sabha election in India’s most populous state, Uttar Pradesh is considered semi-final for the national elections that are due in early 2024, the poll body has made elaborate arrangements for a smooth counting process.
It has deployed a total of 671 counting observers, 130 police observers and 10 special observers on the ground. The ECI has also deputed two special officers--Chief Electoral Officer Delhi at Meerut and Chief Electoral Officer of Bihar to Varanasi-- to supervise the counting arrangements.
According to Election Commission officials, elaborate and foolproof arrangements have been made at all the counting centres and all strong rooms where electronic voting machines have been kept and placed under a three-layered security cordon with an inner cordon manned by the Central Forces.
Moreover, arrangements have been made for the candidates to keep a watch on strong rooms through CCTV coverage, which is available round-the-clock.
Section 144 CrPC imposed
In order to maintain a peaceful counting environment, the district administration in all the poll going states has imposed Sec 144 CrPC around the counting halls.
Secondly, as per the procedures, political parties and candidates have been involved at each stage related to EVM deployment during elections.
These stages include opening and closing of EVM warehouses, first level checking of EVMs and VVPATs, taking out of EVMs and VVPATs for training and awareness after the initial checking, randomizations of EVMs and VVPATs.
In addition to these stages, political parties, candidates and their agents have also been involved at the stage of commissioning of EVMs and VVPATs, and dispersal of EVMs and VVPATs to polling parties and also during the transportation of polled EVMs and VVPATs from polling stations to collection centre. The candidates and their agents have also been involved at the stage of storage of Polled EVMs and VVPATs and counting of votes.
Officials said that the serial number of each EVM (including polled) is shared with the political parties and candidates at each stage.
How counting will be conducted?
First of all, the postal ballots received before 8 am on the counting day shall be taken up for counting.
The procedure says the counting of votes shall be taken up for postal ballots at 8 am in the morning and will continue till its completion. All existing instructions for counting ETPBS and postal ballots will be followed.
Then after a gap of 30 minutes from the commencement of counting of postal ballot papers, counting of votes for electronic voting machines (EVMs) will start at around 8.30 am.
Counting of votes registered in EVMs shall continue irrespective of the stage of postal ballot counting as per the ECI instructions issued on May 18, 2019.
After each round of counting, tabulation of results will be done in a prescribed format.
This will be signed by the returning officer and the observer and a copy will be shared with the candidates. After the announcement of the round-wise results, counting of the next round will be taken up as per existing instructions of the Election Commission.
Postal ballot results will also be shared in the prescribed format after obtaining the signatures of candidates’ agents.
VVPAT matching as per Supreme Court order
In April 2019, India’s top court, the Supreme Court of India, had directed that the number of VVPAT slips to be matched with EVM count be increased from one polling station per Assembly constituency or segment to five polling stations per Assembly constituency or segment. It was done for the greater satisfaction of stakeholders and to ensure transparency in the process of counting.
Later in May that year, the Supreme Court had dismissed a review petition and since then the Election Commission adheres to these guidelines.
How data is uploaded on the ECI website?
As per the procedure, the returning officer (RO) will make entry of round wise results in the ENCORE system, which will be displayed on ECI’s result website (https://results.eci.gov.in).
If the margin of victory is less than the number of postal ballot papers rejected as invalid at the time of counting, all the rejected postal ballot papers shall be compulsorily re-verified by the RO before the declaration of results. It is done as per the Commission’s instructions issued in May 2019.
Officials said whenever, such re-verification is done, the entire proceedings are video-graphed as per the Commission’s instructions dated January 21, 2009.
According to officials, the Commission has issued detailed instructions related to the counting of votes several times in the past and these instructions will be followed during the counting of votes on March 10.
Media centres at each counting location
The Commission has set up media centres at each counting location for round-wise dissemination of poll results and trends and media passes have also been issued.
Officials said only authorised persons will be allowed to enter the counting halls.
The trends and results will be available after 8 am on Thursday.
Results on ECI website, mobile app
The results will be displayed on the website of the Election Commission of India (https://results.eci.gov.in) and will be updated to display the current round wise trends and result for each constituency.
Users can also access these results Voter Helpline app available on Google Play Store and Apple App Store.
While the website and mobile app will display information as fed by the returning officers in the system from the respective counting centres, the final data for each Assembly seat will be shared on Form 20 only.
Strict action against rumour-mongers
In a statement, the Commission has rejected rumours against Electronic Voting Machines (EVms) saying that these were totally unrelated to the polled EVMs and in each case of slightest breach of protocol swift action was taken by the Commission against the officers concerned.
“No person should indulge in any rumour-mongering or spreading wrongful information. The Commission has directed CEOs and district administration to take legal action against such rumour and mischief mongers,” it said.
